Sony Ericsson shipped 14.1 million handsets worldwide during the quarter, which was down 45 percent from a year earlier. Operating margins, however, showed sequential improvement, and if the company can continue this (and it does have several new phones coming out) Strategy Analytics estimates that Sony Ericsson may return to profitability in third quarter of 2010.

Fifth-place Motorola shipped 13.6 million handsets worldwide during the third quarter, which was down from 14.8 million the quarter before and 25.4 million a year earlier. Good news, however. “We believe the future outlook is brightening,” wrote Mawston. “Motorola’s cost base has been streamlined and its high-end handset portfolio has been strengthened. Motorola announced two Android smartphones, the Droid and the Cliq, and unveiled its complementary, social networking–focused MotoBlur service.”

For the fourth quarter of 2009, Strategy Analytics expects 300 million handsets to ship worldwide, growing 3 percent from the 294 million units a year earlier.